Project approval after AI review on 2 November 2026. Human proofreading is still pending.
Lesson 9
A move can gain time
- What you will learn
- You develop a piece and attack an opponent’s piece at the same time.
- What you should already know
- What development means
- What an attack on a piece looks like
- Lesson 7: All your pieces want to join in
Time: about 6 minutes
Thinking questions in this lesson
You can ask yourself these thinking questions in any position. They help you find a good move.
- What is the threat?new
- Which piece could be better placed?
Step 1 of 6
Look first
Black has brought the queen into play very early.
A black piece is already in the middle of the board. Tap it.
Arrow keys move the focus across the squares. Enter or Space marks a square or removes the mark.
Choose a square from a list
Position as a list
White
- King e1
- Queen d1
- Rook a1
- Rook h1
- Bishop c1
- Bishop f1
- Knight b1
- Knight g1
- Pawn a2
- Pawn b2
- Pawn c2
- Pawn d2
- Pawn f2
- Pawn g2
- Pawn h2
Black
- King e8
- Queen d5
- Rook a8
- Rook h8
- Bishop c8
- Bishop f8
- Knight b8
- Knight g8
- Pawn a7
- Pawn b7
- Pawn c7
- Pawn e7
- Pawn f7
- Pawn g7
- Pawn h7
Step 2 of 6
Decide
This lesson adds a new thinking question: what is the threat? Here you also turn it around: what can you threaten?
White to move. Which plan takes advantage of the black queen being out so early?
Arrow keys move the focus across the squares. Enter or Space selects a piece and moves it to a highlighted square. Escape cancels the selection.
Position as a list
White
- King e1
- Queen d1
- Rook a1
- Rook h1
- Bishop c1
- Bishop f1
- Knight b1
- Knight g1
- Pawn a2
- Pawn b2
- Pawn c2
- Pawn d2
- Pawn f2
- Pawn g2
- Pawn h2
Black
- King e8
- Queen d5
- Rook a8
- Rook h8
- Bishop c8
- Bishop f8
- Knight b8
- Knight g8
- Pawn a7
- Pawn b7
- Pawn c7
- Pawn e7
- Pawn f7
- Pawn g7
- Pawn h7
Step 3 of 6
Try it
Develop a piece so that it attacks the black queen at the same time.
Arrow keys move the focus across the squares. Enter or Space selects a piece and moves it to a highlighted square. Escape cancels the selection.
Choose a move from a list
Position as a list
White
- King e1
- Queen d1
- Rook a1
- Rook h1
- Bishop c1
- Bishop f1
- Knight b1
- Knight g1
- Pawn a2
- Pawn b2
- Pawn c2
- Pawn d2
- Pawn f2
- Pawn g2
- Pawn h2
Black
- King e8
- Queen d5
- Rook a8
- Rook h8
- Bishop c8
- Bishop f8
- Knight b8
- Knight g8
- Pawn a7
- Pawn b7
- Pawn c7
- Pawn e7
- Pawn f7
- Pawn g7
- Pawn h7
Step 4 of 6
Why does it work?
Your knight comes into play. To save the queen, Black has to move it again instead of developing another piece.
That puts you a move ahead. We call this gained move a tempo.
Key idea
Develop a piece with an attack when your opponent has brought a piece out early.
When does this apply?
This pays off if your piece is safe afterwards. An attack that loses one of your pieces does not gain time.
Step 5 of 6
New position, same idea
This time, you have a bishop available.
You are playing Black. Develop a piece so that it attacks a white piece at the same time.
Arrow keys move the focus across the squares. Enter or Space selects a piece and moves it to a highlighted square. Escape cancels the selection.
Choose a move from a list
Position as a list
White
- King e1
- Queen d1
- Rook a1
- Rook h1
- Bishop c1
- Bishop f1
- Knight b1
- Knight d4
- Pawn a2
- Pawn b2
- Pawn c2
- Pawn e4
- Pawn f2
- Pawn g2
- Pawn h2
Black
- King e8
- Queen d8
- Rook a8
- Rook h8
- Bishop c8
- Bishop f8
- Knight c6
- Knight g8
- Pawn a7
- Pawn b7
- Pawn c7
- Pawn d7
- Pawn f7
- Pawn g7
- Pawn h7
Step 6 of 6
Nimzowitsch and today
Source
Nimzowitsch uses this very position after 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 to show how to gain a lead in development. The explanations and the new position are written for the course.
Today’s view (editorial note)
The early queen on d5 is still played today. Black usually then retreats it to a safe square and catches up in development.